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Attack of the Flesh Eating Plants from Outer Space

Wilmington - In 1995, one of the biggest news items was the discovery that a hunk of Martian rock possibly containing alien microbes had embedded itself in our polar ice millions of years ago. The thought that life could be brought to our planet onboard a meteor was big news, but what if this is the tip of the proverbial iceberg?

At the center of a current scientific debate is a more controversial, but seemingly plausible debate: Were certain plants brought down to earth onboard a comet or meteor?

Take Me To Your Leader: The Alien Plants Are Here

The "place to be seen" in science is the Carolina Bay area, so named because of the large number of Bay trees that grow there in the wild. Dr. Alex Tystromb, Professor of Botany at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, believes that as many as seven specific plant species may have actually been delivered to our planet from another place. His most famous example is the "Venus Flytrap," a carnivorous plant with a mouth like movement that traps small insects for ingestion by the plant.

"The plant is native to this area and this area alone," says Dr. Tystromb. Almost no species of plant can only be found in one place. Also, I'm no geologist, but if you look at aerial photos of the Carolina Bay area, you will see a series of what appears to be craters. It's as if something from crashed here, bringing these plants with them. Geologists have looked at the Bay area and noticed the elliptical depressions in the earth, noting how they look like impact craters."

Dr. Irving Thompson of Dartmouth University's Paleontology department is Dr. Tystromb's main opposition. "You can clearly trace the evolution of these plants. It's not like they just suddenly appear in the fossil record one day. Whenever people don't understand something on earth, they go for the easy answer. They say things come from outer space. It's really nonsense."

"Is it nonsense, really?" Asks Tystromb. "I thought it was the aim of science to look for answers wherever they could be found... No matter where. These plants are native to one place only. I don't believe that there is a logical explanation for that alone."

For over thirty years, there has been a search in that area to find any evidence of an impact of any kind. Not a single fragment of any kind of rock from outer space has yet to be discovered. "That makes sense," says Dr. Tystromb. "It is a swampy area. Any rock that's been there for millions of years is likely to erode away to nothing, or to be buried under silt at the bottom of the bay."

"This debate is fruitless. [Dr. Tystromb] will come up with any defense to prove his hypothesis. It's unscientific to come up with the answer and then look only for support for your idea. I believe Dr. Tystromb needs to look more carefully at his pet idea and see what's really going on in the Bay area." Says Dr. Thompson, who adds "I'd love it if these plants were from outer space. I just don't see the evidence being gathered, and this is an old idea, dating back to the 1930's."

sources

Interview with Dr. Alex Tystromb March 13, 1998, Dr. Irving Thompson March 15, 1998

Photo by Derek Barnes



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